0/5

TEN AGM: no update on new ownership

TEN CEO tells shareholders there is "no further update" on takeover bids as yet.

ten 10TEN CEO Hamish McLennan addressed shareholders yesterday at the company’s Annual General Meeting.

He told shareholders there was no update on ownership of the company as yet.

Here are some select excerpts of his address:

As you know, on November 6 this year we advised the market that we had appointed Citi to assist in assessing a range of potential strategic options for the company.

On December 3, we advised that Citi had received non-binding, conditional proposals from a number of parties in relation to transactions which, if implemented, could result in a change of control of Ten or a refinancing of its existing debt facilities.

An independent committee of the Board of Ten is considering those proposals in conjunction with Citi. It should be noted that the proposals are confidential, non-binding and conditional in nature, and may or may not result in a transaction which is acceptable to the company. At this stage, there is no further update to our December 3 statement. Ten will update shareholders again when required to do so under its continuous disclosure obligations.

He also spoke of performance lifts since May.

It is important to note that during the first half of the year, the company was in transition from an old content strategy to a new one.

It is also important to note that everyone at the company is focused on improving the company’s television ratings, revenue, earnings and returns to shareholders. Strict cost control is an important part of that focus. We are forecasting a decline in television costs of8.0% (excluding selling costs but inclusive of one-off events) during the 2014-15 financial year.

The six points are:
ï‚· Investing in Event Television.
ï‚· Investing in premium live sport.
ï‚· Focusing on the 25-to-54-year-old demographic.
 Bringing consistency to Network Ten’s program schedules.
ï‚· Investing in the development of new formats.
ï‚· Continuing the expansion of digital platforms and revenue.

A major review and restructuring of television News and Operations was completed successfully in July this year, without impacting TEN Eyewitness News’ ratings and audience share.

Those changes have given us more capacity to invest in prime time content. The benefits of that restructuring will be apparent in our 2015 financial year results.

TEN’s coverage of the T20 Big Bash League begins today.

3 Responses

  1. IMO the future for FTA is News, Sport, Reality, Game Shows and Interactive Home Shopping. TEN has little of this to offer. Any prospective new owner will need to be able to bring some of this content to the table.

    FOX is an obvious contender but it’s content is “locked away” by FoxTel and other deals. Other o/seas buyers would face ACMA, ACCC & FIRB. Buy low, sell high and walk away didn’t work out too well for Nine’s recent owners. Asset stripper owners would like to convert the main channel to HD and sell off the digital channels.

    What TEN needs is a public spirited Billionaire who needs a nice little tax write off every year.

  2. “A major review and restructuring of television News and Operations was completed successfully in July this year, without impacting TEN Eyewitness News’ ratings and audience share”

    I’d love to hear Ten’s 5pm news aud and share for Jan-July and July-Dec – I’m pretty sure it’s dropped.

    Then again – so have 7 and 9 News. Big time.

Leave a Reply